Just days after the Northern Ireland health minister Shaun Woodward announced a smoking ban (whether partial or blanket isn't known yet), the government has decided that young smokers will be more receptive to warnings that smoking will impact their sex lives than they are to general health warnings, at least if their latest ad campaign is anything to go by.

The government reckon that male smokers in their 30s and 40s are 50% more likely to suffer erectile dysfunction than their non-smoking counterparts, while up to 120,000 British men now suffer from impotency as a result of smoking. They're therefore launching an ad campaign with the slogan "Does smoking make you hard? Not if it means you can't get it up."

Women don't get off much easier either, as another ad points out that smoking leads to premature skin aging and causes "cat's bum mouth." I'm not sure what a cat's bum tastes like exactly, but I think I can safely say that kissing someone who's recently finished a cigarette tastes like what I can only imagine is akin to licking an ashtray.

Follow up:

As if things weren't looking bleak enough for smokers, a recent survey by the NHS Smoking Helpine (0800 1690 169) is reported to have found that two-thirds of young people (and even 50% of smokers) find smoking reduces a person's attractiveness. You can add my name to that. There are plenty of reasonably attractive women in Belfast who ruin the whole package because you never see them without a f**king fag in their hand.

According to Public Health Minister Caroline Flint, "fears about attractiveness and fertility can be a stronger motivation to quit than fears about health," for young people. While I find the idea of 'nanny knows best' a bit worrying, frankly I think it's worth the sacrifice as at reduces the number of people smoking can't be bad (this is of course assuming it has any affect at all other than to harden smokers' resolve).